Cleaning device.



L. L. FERGUSON.

CLEANING DEVICE.

APPLIGATIOH FILED 00T. 6, 1913.

Patented July 28, 1914 M y I UMTED sTATEs PATENT Omron risoltafap L sensueel?, oi c1ckeo,'mm1rors, Ass'IG'Non, To DUNTLEY NEMATI'C swamp-m. COMPANY, 'or cHrcacQJILLINoIs, A coaroaa'rronjoF-Danawaan LEAN'IG DEVICE speeiacauon of Letters 2mm.

Patented Jury as, i914..

application mea october a, 191s. serial No. 793,63'1.

To all 'w11 om it may concern j Be it known that I, LEONARD L. FERGUSON, a citizen of the United States of America= and a resident of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements `in Cleaning Devices, of which the following is a vspeciprovide a construction of flexible bowed' frame for the ltering bag adapted when vibrated to loosen accumulated dust but not liable to loosen the fabric covering of the bag from the frame when theframe is struck against some fixed object for 'the purpose of emptying the collected dust from the filtering An i lustrative embodiment of this invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section of a pneumatic sweeper showing the present improved construction. Fig. 2 is a view in horizontal section of the filtering bag taken on the line A--A of Fig. 1.

Pneumatic sweepers of this general type are frequently provided with a filtering bag without a frame for extending the ba and as a result the bag sometimes becomes tfolded and rests on the bottom of the containing receptacle exposing little surface to the action of the suction apparatus.

The present invention relates-to a particular arrangement of frame andV filtering fabric formin a bag efficient in operation and in convenient form for handling.

Referring to the drawings, the device is shown provided with suitable bellows 1 operated by pitman and crank connections A2 and 3 with supporting wheels 4, The

lower leaf 5 of the bellows restson a' partition 6 separating a casing? for the bellows and a casing 84 for the filtering device 9. The filtering device is arranged to be in communication with a suction nozzle 10.for engaging the surfaces operated upon, and the partition G is provided with an opening 11v so that air may be drawn.- through the nozzle 10 and the filtering device vand then.

ermitted to pass through :1 -valve 12in the ower leaf 5 of the bellows. YThe' upper lea-f 13 of 'th'e'bellows is provided with a valve l4simi1ar to the valve 12. lVhen the leaves 1 3 and 5 of theI bellows are'separated, valve 12 opens while valve 14 is drawn to its closed poslt-lon, and when the leaf 13! is forced downwardly, valve 12 closes while valve 14 opens. .The suction nozzle 1 0 is secured to' a sweeping compartment l5, both being removably secured as a unit to the remainder of the apparatus bya ivoted yoke 27 to perl mit removal of the fi tering device for the purpose ofemptying it, v and for dumping the swecpings compartment. The sweepings receptacle carries a rotatable.' brush 1 6 arranged to be driven by azp'air of supporting pro' wheels 17. The filtering device, 9 is vided -w-ith a mouthpiece 18v referablymade out of a single piece of wood aving'an opening 19 adapted "to register with lan-jopeningl; 20 in the suction nozzle 10.

Secured to the outer face of `the mouthpiece 18 'by asmall` metallic'strip 21 is a rubber washer or marginal portion 22, arranged for forming an airtight closure between the suctionnozzle and the casing 8 when thc sweepings compartment and nozzle are clamped to the suction apparatus with the filtering device in its roper position. Secured to the inner face o the mouthpiece 18 is a. resilient strip of metal 23 bowed or bent in the form shown in Fig. 2, and having its ends first bent toward each other and thenoutwardly, the outward extensions bein secured to mouthpiece -18 by screws 24. A ltering fabric 25 surrounds frame 23 and is glued at its edges to mouthpiece 18 thereby forming a bag open at the en d within which fits the mouthpiece. By this arrangement of. A

the filtering device, both its upper and lower' surfaces, as shownv in Fig. l. are exposed to the action of the suction apparatus The frame 23 is bent inwardly, as shown, adjacent to the fastening between the fabric and the mouthpiece 18, to facilitate fastening the fabric to the. outer edge of the mouthpiecel 18; and also to permit the frame 23 to ribratf relatively of the mouthpiece without loosen ing the fabric from the latterwhen thel ifitering device is struck against some fixed object. The opening 11 in the partition G is preferably as usual covered by av metallic screen 26, lthereby aside from the functionA of frame 23 furthervpreventing ,the fabric from limiting the action of the bellows by being drawn-upwardly against the mouth of the passage between it and the filtering bag compartment` In the operation of the device, the action being permitted to filter through the upper 'and o wer surfaces of said device in its passage to the bellows. To gain 'access to the filtering bag 9, yoke 27 is swung upward to release the. sweepings compartment. Then the filtering bag may be withdrawn from the device and emptied. The sides of frame 23 may .be pressed inward and suddenly released or lightly tapped against some fixed object for the purpose of snapping fabric to clear it of accumulated dust.

The type of machine to Vwhich the present improvement is applied is generally a low structure which may easily pass un er most furniture, the bottom of which is spaced from the floor. The filtering devices must be dimensioned suitably for such structure A and as a consequence, are usually hard to clean. The usual more or less fiat or loose type of dust-bag 1s difcult to clean, in that l to turn it inside out before it is necessa the dust may e brushed from the meshes o'f the fabric. Such method of cleaning the bein the reason that the fabric is held taut by the U-shaped frame 23.;

Although but one specific embodiment of this invention has been herein shown and de scribed, it will be understood that-some details of the construction shown emay be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of this invention as defined bythe following claim.

I claim: i

An air filtering device for pneumaticcarpet sweepers, comprising a :mouthpiece having a narrow opening thereim'a U-shaped metallic frame secured to saidmouth iece,

and a filtering fabric surrounding said ramel and secured to said mouth iece, said frame. suitably-dimensione with vrespect to the ltering fabric toyhold said fabric'taut with its opposite faces spacedapart.

Signed at Chicago this 3d day of October f1913.

LEONAR L. FERGUSON.

Witnesses:

ANDREW Bouma, JENNIE BUBT. 

